Ad Astra! ... an Aurora Forum Game, run by blue emu

[blue emu]

Known Space, April 21st, 2028.

[Galleblære]

You will need a colony on Sirius for historical purposes! Damn the cost!

[Ärjylä]

<ENCODED MESSAGE>

To: Commodore Arjyla, High Command
From: Commodore Gunman, Nellis AFB

Sir, after learning of the Charlie incursion into the Sol System, I have placed Nellis Air Force Base on high alert. While we all hope for a peaceful outcome to the latest situation, we are prepared to defend Mother Earth to the death. Both the "Wildcats" and "The Cossacks" have been prepped for intercept of any Charlie ship that is determined to have a course set for Earth. Will await further orders.

-Commodore Gunman, Nellis AFB

<MESSAGE ENDS>

To: Commodore Gunman
From: Rear Admiral Arjyla

Commodore,

What the hell are you still doing on Nellis? I thought your current assignment was to ESN Chimaera.

Good to see that you're doing your job well, even if it's in the wrong place. Get your ass here ASAP. Expedite.

RAD Arjyla
END

[Morrell8]

How far away are the transports? It seems as though we will need them pretty soon.

[blue emu]

How far away are the transports? It seems as though we will need them pretty soon.

The first three (non-jump) Troop transports will be ready in one month six days. I deliberately limited the displacement so that a Colony ship could escort them through a jump point.

[Morrell8]

The first three (non-jump) Troop transports will be ready in one month six days. I deliberately limited the displacement so that a Colony ship could escort them through a jump point.

Thats good. Can we use them for boarding actions? So we can take the Jump gate building ship if worst comes to worst.

[blue emu]

Thats good. Can we use them for boarding actions? So we can take the Jump gate building ship if worst comes to worst.

No. That requires Boarding Pods on a Military ship, not Transport Bays on a Civilian ship. We won't even be able to begin researching Boarding Pods for another fifteen months.

What we can use those Ventures for is transporting a crap-load of troops out to Dravar XV to prepare for cracking into those Precursor ruins.

An update on the situation out at the Sol => Ross 248 jump point:

Still no activity from Charlie, except that he continues setting up that Gate (presuming that we've analyzed this correctly).

Our entire fleet is in stealth mode about 18 million km away from him, buttoned up, engines off, watching him through passive sensors. We are within missile range (which is about 21 million km), so we can whack him if it becomes necessary. He is still putting out a thermal signature like a burning house... presumably from the construction work. We are about twice as close as we need to be to pick him up at that temperature... because I don't want to miss it if a much smaller ship comes through the Gate. He has pretty well zero chance of detecting us at this range (unless he suddenly uses active sensors, which we would detect), because with our engines shut down, our thermal signature is effectively zero. He must suspect that we're out here, though, because we had to use our engines to get here, and he would have spotted the exhaust plumes at that time.

[blue emu]

Jeeze... we might even be able to avoid bankruptcy at the very last minute... I've got the deficit down to about 15 bucks per day. It was 47 bucks per day only a few months ago. Still 4,400 bucks in the bank.

EDIT: False alarm... it went back up again. I guess the deficit fluctuates up and down, and I just happened to check when it was way down.

Exploration of the new jump point in the Gliese 205 system led to a junk solar system EG-290... a D9-VII White Dwarf star only 1/10,000th as bright as Sol, with no planets, moons or asteroids.

[Verenti]

What if he's using EM passive sensors? Would that have the opertunity to pick up the running life support?

[blue emu]

What if he's using EM passive sensors? Would that have the opertunity to pick up the running life support?

I don't think you can put them on a civilian ship... certainly not a large array of them. It would re-class the ship as military.

EDIT: Two more Mayflower Colony ships have been built... our fourth and fifth... and that dockyard is now retooling for Fleet Tugs.

[blue emu]

ZERG Force is now being organized for dispatch to Dravar XV, when the Venture class Troop Transports become available next month.

ZERG Force Brigade HQ is commanded by Brigadier Hyme. His direct subordinates are Colonel Joker commanding 10th Mobile Infantry Battalion, Colonel LordLeto commanding 11th Mobile Infantry Battalion, Colonel Morrell8 commanding 1st Heavy Assault (Armored) Battalion and Colonel Jolt commanding 16th Assault Infantry Battalion.

A large (four Battalion + HQ) Garrison force will also be deployed to guard the colony, as well as two Engineer Battalions to crack into the ruins. That leaves room in the Troop Transports for about three more units... so additional temporary attachments are also under consideration.

[Qorten]

Now that this is really taking off you might transfer me to somewhere else with a littlebit more action if you want to. A ship command or comet/colony governor or something?

[blue emu]

Now that this is really taking off you might transfer me to somewhere else with a littlebit more action if you want to. A ship command or comet/colony governor or something?

The sign-up thread would be the best place to post for re-assignment. Arjyla must authorize ship assignments.

[blue emu]

Our new Venture class Troop Transports are loading now, to carry ZERG Force out to Dravar XV. It will take a month or more to get the troops on-board... a slow process. I may need to upgrade these ships with Cargo Handling gear.

Commander Chaos in ESN Ptolomy has found a marginally habitable planet in the FL Virginis system.

[Stuckenschmidt]

I really shouldn`t sleep anymore. I always miss the important stuff.

Hopefully we find some backdoor in the "south". And good luck to our ground troops. Btw: How many people live on Dravar XV right now?

[billy bob]

Do they know the whole fleet is there or just one ship? If only one ship I offer to go in and make our presence known by moving up closer to let the scanners get a better look.

[blue emu]

How many people live on Dravar XV right now?

530,000

Do they know the whole fleet is there or just one ship? If only one ship I offer to go in and make our presence known by moving up closer to let the scanners get a better look.

They would have seen the exhaust plumes from our entire fleet as it moved in, but they must have lost track of us after we shut down our engines. They won't be able to locate us unless they use active sensors, or until we start moving again. I'd rather not send anyone in, since that requires starting up his engine, giving our position away.

[billy bob]

530,000



They would have seen the exhaust plumes from our entire fleet as it moved in, but they must have lost track of us after we shut down our engines. They won't be able to locate us unless they use active sensors, or until we start moving again. I'd rather not send anyone in, since that requires starting up his engine, giving our position away.

Fair. Any estimation on how long until the gate is ready?

[blue emu]

Fair. Any estimation on how long until the gate is ready?

Certainly less than six months, because that's how long they take to build, and he's been at it for months.

Known Space:



... 36 systems mapped, and no back-doors anywhere.

[Bossemanden]

What do the "black holes" on some of these systems (EG 290, HR 511 etc.) indicate?